American state attorneys-general have increasingly asserted antitrust enforcement independently of the federal government. Twelve states had competition laws before the Sherman Act of 1890.
In 2025 eight states introduced bills requiring large firms to notify attorneys-general before completing mergers; Colorado and Washington passed theirs. Colorado had already passed a 2023 law increasing antitrust fines and investigatory powers. The California Law Review Commission has been considering whether to strengthen the state's antitrust laws.
The failure of the Kroger-Albertsons supermarket merger served as a cautionary tale: state-level opposition helped kill the deal regardless of the federal stance.
Democratic attorneys-general have been particularly keen on antitrust enforcement as a way to raise their profiles. The attorney-general who sued Kroger in Washington state subsequently became governor. Phil Weiser in Colorado and Rob Bonta in California are both running for governor.
Gail Slater took the helm of the antitrust division at the Department of Justice in March 2025. By autumn her authority had been diminished as the free-market faction of the MAGA movement gained the whip-hand over the populist one. Her top advisers were fired; Roger Alford, her deputy, was dismissed weeks after the HPE-Juniper merger closed. On February 12th 2026 Slater resigned. Mike Davis, an influential MAGA adviser, responded on X: "Good riddance."
Under her tenure, Hewlett Packard Enterprise bought Juniper, a rival, for $14bn in 2025—approved on national-security grounds (competing with China's Huawei abroad). Alford later said the approval reflected the "rule of lobbyists". Compass, America's biggest property broker, also bought Anywhere Real Estate, the second-biggest. In both cases the buyers reportedly consulted Davis. Events around the HPE deal are being scrutinised in a lawsuit by state attorneys-general unhappy with lobbyists' perceived influence.
The White House has used the antitrust apparatus to pursue broader policy goals: the DOJ and FTC are investigating meat prices, companies' diversity policies, and proxy advisers ISS and Glass Lewis. Donald Trump signed an order in December 2025 urging an investigation of the proxy-advisory duopoly.
The bidding war for Warner Bros Discovery between Netflix and Paramount has highlighted the power of state AGs. Bonta could block any Warner Bros merger regardless of Washington's stance, given California's jurisdiction over the entertainment industry.
On the subject of C program indentation: "In My Egotistical Opinion, most people's C programs should be indented six feet downward and covered with dirt."